Facebook to facilitate donating from social media pages

It is launching tools in 16 European countries that will insert donate buttons into page headers or posts

Facebook is set to launch charity fundraising tools in 16 European countries, including the UK, that will allow people to donate directly on social media pages.

Charities are being urged to sign up to be among the first to use the new functions, which will allow charities and individuals to collect donations on Facebook through donate buttons inserted into page headers or posts, such as videos, photos or text.

Individual users who wish to fundraise for a particular cause will also be able to set up their own pages dedicated to their preferred charities to share with their friends and contacts in order to raise awareness and money.

It will also be possible to add a donate button to Facebook Live broadcasts, enabling people to donate as they watch. According to a Facebook statement, this tool raised more than $450,000 [£340,000] in the US during the Ariana Grande benefit concert in June to honour victims of the Manchester terror attack.

Facebook will begin testing the tools in the UK later on this month, alongside Ireland, France, Germany and Spain. Testing will be rolled out to Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Norway and Luxembourg in early October.

In the UK, Facebook will work with Movember UK, Oxfam UK and Unicef UK as beta partners to test the new tools. It will also work with Aktion Deutschland Hilft and Unicef in Germany, Caritas and Save the Children in Spain, and Unicef France.

Charities will be charged a 5 per cent fee on each donation: 3.5 per cent of the donation will cover the costs of vetting charities, operational costs and payment support, and 1.5 per cent will cover payment processing.

In a statement, Facebook said: "Facebook's goal is to create a platform for good that’s sustainable over the long term, and not to make a profit from our charitable giving tools."

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